The Wit to Win
by warblerwings
Summary: Snapshot moments in Julia and Luke's lives as they await the birth of their child.
1. Chapter 1

Julia had pictured this day, that was the killer. They'd be out on the porch, watching the sun fall into the trees, knowing this was their time, that everyone understood not to bother them unless something was burning or exploding. Sitting on the back steps, arms brushing, that bit of quiet contact and unspoken communication, except this time she'd have something to say in words, the thing they'd been waiting a year for her to be able to say.

It wasn't how she'd imagined it would be - standing in a crowded hallway, surrounded by gawking oily men, knowing someone was bound to interrupt sooner or later, and that it was sure to be someone she didn't want to see. But the alternative was to do it on the phone, and that was no alternative at all.

She didn't mind being squished a little. She was built to make that safe for a while longer, and right now, it was just for her and she needed it. "Another week, baby, that's all. One more."

"Are you all right?"

She nodded against him. "Yeah, we're fine."

It took him a few seconds. She couldn't see his face this way, but she could feel comprehension uncoil in him. "We."

"We." She wiggled until she had space in his arms to lean back and look up at him. "We did it, big fella. I've got a passenger on board."

She watched the news travel through his eyes. She laughed every time she heard someone say they were blank or empty. Let them think it; she knew so much better than that.

He said the first thing she was expecting: "That's it. It's over. I'll tell Bray. You're coming home."

"No, Luke. It's another week, that's all." A smile flickered around her lips. "Mama's not a quitter. And _damn_, do I not want to listen to that insufferable, self-absorbed asshole crowing about how he was right and I'm all brainwashed. Hey, maybe I'll luck out and throw up on him. You might even get to miss the worst of that."

"I don't want to miss it."

"Now, _that_ might be the weirdest thing you've ever said to me. And that's going places, isn't it?"

They talked - all the silly ideas, plans, hopes, dreams, all the things they'd stopped talking about as each month had brought disappointment. It was like chains on his tongue had been severed. She was nearly awed by it, by the things he hadn't said even in that first rush of excitement when they'd decided it was time to try, by all of them pouring out now. _As bad as I've wanted this, he's been holding his breath for a year._

She reached up and found the space under his eyes that always seemed to her to be like a secret - vulnerable, not hidden in hair and beard - and ran the tip of her thumb along his cheekbone. She smiled as his eyes slipped closed and he kept talking. _I can still do this for you, even after all this time._ It was forever a wonder to her.

So was the universe's love of crappy timing. She grabbed his wrists when she spotted Erick hauling Orton - who was wearing an unmistakable _Oops, busted_ look on his face - over to them. Luke gave them an unhappy look, but she didn't have to hold him still after all, even when Orton said they had to leave. She ran her fingers down his inner arms, knowing he'd understand everything that didn't say to anyone else. "One more week. That's all."

At least they had something to carry them through it now. She resisted the urge to put her hand there. _Come on, kiddo. Let's go ralph on a jerk._


	2. Chapter 2

Julia thought she'd had every right to believe the insanity was all over once she was home; never mind that everyone out there thought it was the opposite. What they knew about it wouldn't fill the palm of her hand.

But for the next month, everyone else was right. It just wasn't the people they all thought who were causing the crazy. It had taken Luke a while to settle down when it was over, too. For a week or so, he hadn't wanted to let _anyone_ near her. She hadn't minded it so much, if she was being honest with herself about it. All she really wanted was to be around him, anyway. She'd quickly discovered that Luke was right; she wanted to share every second of it she could with him.

Even the throwing-up part. He just serenely held her hair back for the three weeks that lasted, and came back the first week with a huge box of Saltines in his travel bag. All she could picture was him walking into some convenience store at 4 am and thumping that down on the counter.

She'd always helped with whatever work she was needed to do, but that came to an end. She thought it was a little excessive, and put her foot down at being told to sit and supervise even in the kitchen; she was pregnant, not dying. The heavier work she did give up without a fight, though. It gave her more time to work on her book, and she didn't mind that at all.

"Feeling better, lamb?"

"Much."

"Good." Bray sat down at the table with her. "I've been curious about something. And now that Luke is busy elsewhere on the property: Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I'd keep you there?"

"No. That's why I didn't tell you. It was only a week."

"In a place you didn't want to be. And only more so then."

"If you're asking, yes. I did it for you. Hanging around there certainly wasn't for me or Luke." She paused, hands folded on her to-be belly. "It was the only way I could think of to thank you. That's why I went at all."

"Oh?"

"I know Luke wouldn't be the man I love without you and what you did for him. You saved him. He told me. Without you, I wouldn't have my husband or this child. I don't have much to offer but gratitude, but every bit I have is yours."

"You have something else to offer. You have already: Your mind. Your honesty. The stability you bring to our family. The happiness you bring to Luke, that most of all. And now you're carrying the beginning of our family's future. You don't have to offer more than that." He smiled and pushed her chin up gently, tilting her head so her gaze met his. "You've proven your love."

He left her there to think about it.

_All right, so I do. He understands exactly how and why; I can live with that._

Luke found her there half an hour later, still lost in thought. He sat and waited for her to come back; if there was something she needed from him when she did, she'd say so.

"When did I start belonging here, Luke? Not with you, _here_."

"When you helped Erick. You were welcome here once word spread that you did that. And you were one of us the moment you lied to protect me." He smiled and ran his fingers into her hair, brushing it back. "The moment you admitted you were mine."

"Mmm, is that what I did?"

"Yes. You were the last one to realize it. Got it now?"

"Absolutely. But if you think I need to be reminded..."

He swept her out of the chair like she was made of feathers and smoke. "I'm going to miss this when we have to stop."

She laughed. "That should be right around the time you'll end up with a hernia if you try picking me up."

"The last person I lifted weighed 240 pounds and was about half-conscious."

"You should have doubled the roofie. Did she send you flowers the next day?"

He laughed all the way upstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you see anything?"

Julia was standing naked in front of the mirror, twisting and peering at herself from every angle she could manage.

"Yeah."

She threw him an _All right, you_ look over her shoulder. "I'm serious. Do you?" She smoothed her hands over her lower belly. "You know, besides me standing here doing a bunch of wishful thinking?"

He looked with more serious intent. She turned to give him a profile, trying not to slouch and make a bump that wasn't really there. "Maybe. Come here."

He knew her body as well as he knew his own, maybe better. He thought it would stay a wonder to him forever, the intimacy she allowed him, the trust she showed in giving it, that she believed so utterly that he deserved that trust. He closed his eyes and ran his palm down the length of her torso, his other hand cupped in the small of her back, holding her steady and still. He smiled as he felt her tiny gasp at the touch. _Forget brainwashing. You lost because she loves me, you sorry son of a bitch._

"Well?"

"Maybe." He fell back, pulling her down on top of him. She snuggled in happily, which was exactly the idea. She fit against him differently. Just a little.

"Yes?"

"Yes."

She grabbed two handfuls of his hair and gave him a resounding kiss. "Look at that, Luke. Just look at what we did."

He couldn't look yet, not really. But he could feel, and that was completely all right with him.

They'd told everyone once she broke the 10-week mark. Julia had seen some speculative looks well before that; it wasn't easy to hide the morning sickness in close quarters even though she and Luke were afforded some extra privacy. The looks got a lot more frequent after they announced it, of course - glances, smiles, the occasional shy question. Luke had told her it would be this way, that this was their happiness, but they'd be sharing it. She found she didn't mind so much. She'd grown used to the closeness and interconnection of life here, and had come to like it very much. It was an enormous support to her while Luke was gone.

She'd never entirely adjusted to how the three central men in her life made their living. She knew they were violent, even by the standards of what they did, and that wasn't in itself so surprising to her. She knew Luke well enough by the time she was told, to understand that the sanctioned outlet for that part of his nature was something he needed. She grasped that part of his life in theory, but she'd been content to for the most part not know about it in detail.

She thought part of why Bray had chosen her for his wager with Cena - besides the obvious fact that she wasn't going to leave Luke for anyone or anything - was her reluctance to address that part of her husband's life. She might be able to redirect that part of him most of the time, but she wasn't naïve enough to think it didn't need to be let out to run sometimes. Bringing her into that situation had forced her to address it; she could look it all directly in the face now and accept it for what it was: a blessing. It might be a strange one, but so were a lot of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Julia had learned quickly that Luke took people's reactions to him mostly in good humor. She'd learned almost as quickly that she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. She just wanted to punch them, which amused him endlessly. So when it was time for the first ultrasound, she was almost perfectly balanced between anticipation and dread.

Everything medical had been a hassle to one degree or another. The local hospital still dragged its collective feet over treating anyone in the family, no matter the problem. They would if faced with stubborn refusal to leave for long enough, but who wanted to sit in a waiting-room chair sick or in pain for four or five hours when a hospital that behaved like one was two hours away?

So her OB was two hours away, and now her monthly appointments had to wrap around Luke's schedule, because she couldn't drive that far any more without shooting pains in her lower back, and he wouldn't let anyone else. But she wasn't giving up her doctor for anything, and surely not for "We're sorry, you're behind 57 people on the list - no, the fact that there are four people in the waiting room has nothing to do with the list.". That was for one simple reason: Her doctor _liked_ Luke. He'd given him the _holy shit_ look everyone did at first, of course, but once he'd realized that under all the hair was a happy, devoted, and very eager dad, those looks stopped. She'd been sure Luke was going to keel right over the first time the man had offered a handshake at the end of the appointment. That alone was worth four hours round-trip.

But the ultrasound was with a tech - someone who hadn't met them yet.

That turned out not to be so bad; she suspected everyone was getting warned by now. The _holy fuck_ look was brief, replaced by a huge smile when he saw how anxious Luke was.

"I have the greatest job in the world, you know that? Just wall to wall happy people." He looked up at the monitor, which was still turned away from them. "And there we are. Awake, too. It seems like half the time, I catch them asleep the first time around. Want to have a look?"

Somehow, they hadn't talked about that yet. "Want to know?"

He thought for a while. "I kind of don't. But I want to _see_."

She nodded to the tech; that pretty much covered how she felt about it, too.

"Meet your daughter. Congratulations." _And God help every kid who ever wants to date her. _

Julia wasn't sure if she wanted to look at the monitor more, or to watch Luke looking at it. They were about equally amazing to her: Their daughter apparently discovering the joys of giving her parents jazz hands, and Luke going through about twenty emotions in fifteen seconds - love, awe, and a fierce _I will kill anything that looks at you wrong_ expression kept coming back for encores. Nobody was looking at her for the moment, and that was fine with her; she was getting tired of people catching her all weepy.

She had it under control by the time they got back to the car, her clutching an envelope of screen shots. "Time to start thinking about names, big guy."

He just smiled. "I've been. Haven't you?"

"Since about ten seconds after the stick turned blue."

She was delighted to find that there was one idea they'd both had.


	5. Chapter 5

It woke her up, so for a second she didn't know what it was. Then it happened again. It took her about a second more to decide to wake Luke up.

He didn't so much wake as leap to full consciousness; that still startled her, even after years of seeing it happen. She grabbed his hand and put it on her belly, sure that the baby wouldn't oblige, leave her wondering if it really had happened at all.

She obliged. Firmly. _Thump_.

Luke's eyes went wide, and he looked at her with the same expression she was sure she'd been wearing a minute ago: _Did that really happen?_

_Thump_.

"I'm going to be the weirdest soccer mom on the team. She gets _that_ from you."

She turned out to be as enthusiastic about her feet as she'd been about her hands last month. _Hi, Mom. Lay off the ancho peppers, okay? Thump._ Julia was starting to feel like Buddha by the third week of the month; everyone stopped by to put a hand on her belly.

She thought she could measure her pregnancy by how far she had to sit from the table while she was working. Another month and she could just sit on the couch and prop the legal pad on her belly; it would probably be easier - and easier for everyone to pat her on the way by, too.

Enough work for today. She got up - aware that she had maybe another month before she'd be asking people to help her out of every chair in the place - and stretched out on the couch. Her back let out a little cheer. Just for a little while, she promised herself. The urge to catnap hit her at the oddest times now.

Her hand being taken woke her. She turned to find Luke sitting on the floor next to the couch, her hand folded into his. "I tried not to wake you up."

She squeezed his hand. "I wasn't really asleep. Just being lazy. What's up?"

"Nothing. For a few minutes, anyway."

She was good with that. There were days it seemed like there was something for him to take care of every minute, including her lately. If she was busy, too, their paths could not cross for hours. It was one of the reasons their morning and evening time alone was treated as just that by everyone.

_And we're going to be a whole lot busier before too long._ But for a change, that thought wasn't even a little burdensome. Not with as long as they'd wanted to be that kind of busy.

She brushed the fingertips of her free hand over his cheek, letting them run through his beard. Sometimes she could just sit stunned, thinking about everything that had gotten them here. One step a little earlier or later, one decision made differently or not made, and she'd probably be sitting in her office waiting to go teach a class, not waiting for her daughter to make her way into the world.

Sometimes it seemed like he could read her thoughts. "Regretting?"

"God, no. Do you ever?"

He looked so surprised she almost laughed. "I wasn't supposed to have the two of you, any of this. You're not supposed to regret miracles."

She thought that probably summed it up better than any of the thinking she'd ever done about it.


	6. Chapter 6

"Exactly how far from this hospital do you live?"

_Well, we made it six months before someone asked. That's not so bad._ It bugged Julia that the doctor had asked Luke to wait outside before asking. She was already well used to what that generally meant. "About two hours."

"There's nowhere closer? If you want to make the trip for monthly appointments, that's certainly your choice, but you might want to consider what happens when you go into labor."

"Our daughter will be born in the back of a car, most likely. There's a closer hospital, but we don't like it." _And it doesn't like us much, either._

"One of my nurses came to me more or less babbling last week. Once she settled down, she had an interesting tale to tell. With video to back it up." He sighed. "I want you to understand I'm required by law to ask you this: Are you in trouble? Do you need help?"

"No."

"I thought as much. I see about equal numbers of happy and unhappy couples in here. You don't strike me as unhappy in any way. But your problems with the closer hospital aren't just personal, are they?"

"No, they're not." She considered briefly, then told him about Erick, especially why Luke had brought him to her instead of to the hospital.

"Good _God_. I wonder if those yokels realize that religious discrimination is illegal in about ten different ways in medical services. All right, then. This does mean the rules change a little. Contractions five minutes apart is the standard. You get in the car when they're ten minutes apart. I'd prefer the baby still be _in_side when you get here."

"So would I."

He glanced toward the waiting room. "Apologize to him for me, would you? It's something I have no choice in."

"We're used to it. But I'll tell him."

She did, on the way home.

"Stop looking fighting mad. This one even meant well. You should be used to this by now, angel."

"I know. I'm not, I guess."

He laughed softly. "No, you're not. I don't care what any of them think of me. Neither should you."

"You got that when you married me. It's part of the deal: Sex, babies, and me wanting to take a stick to idiots."

"Oh, you can want to defend me all you want. It's sexy on you. But don't let it get to you so much. They don't have anything to do with us."

"No, they don't." She grinned and ran her hand up his thigh.

"Make me pull this car over."

"That's '_Don't_ make me pull this car over,' isn't it?"

"With the kid, yeah. Not with you."

She smiled. "Yeah, you better get that while you can. A couple more weeks and I won't be able to bend that far."

He pulled over.


	7. Chapter 7

_It's official_, Julia thought glumly. _Beached whale. They'll be bringing out the hoses to spray me down any time now._

She did her best to keep that feeling from everyone else. They were all so happy, and she seemed like the last person who ought to be spoiling it. She was glad the random weepies were mostly over now, though; it made keeping it to herself a lot easier. A lot of things helped her do that, things she'd never thought to be grateful for before.

The great lack of mirrors in the house was one thing. She'd thrown a shirt over the one in their room last week, and she could mostly avoid what few others there were. She didn't need them, anyway, not to tell her what her own eyes could see - and what they couldn't any more, like her toes, for instance. _Kiddo, I'm glad you're around, but mommy's sure going to be happier when you don't make her look like she ate the soccer team any more._

Privacy helped a lot, too. When it got really bad, she could go to their room and sit with her eyes closed, not have to see what she looked like for a while. And if the weepies showed up, she could deal with that in private, too.

And all that worked through a week of the worst of it. But getting that far inside her own head made her forget something important: Luke missed almost nothing that happened around him, and absolutely nothing that involved her.

She'd been sleeping on her side for the past two months, and with a pillow under the passenger for the last three weeks. The one positive in that was sleeping tucked back against Luke. She was normally a stomach-sleeper, but she thought this could get to be a habit she'd want to keep - his warmth against her back, the weight of his arm over her, his breath against the back of her neck.

"You hurting?"

He startled her off the edge of sleep. "No, I'm fine. Why?"

"You flinch when I touch you. Do we need to uh...stop for a while?"

"The doctor said no, not as long as everything's normal. But, you know...if you don't want to..."

"Is _that_ what's bothering you?"

"That I look like I swallowed a watermelon whole? Why wouldn't it?"

"Because this." He shifted, then moved back up against her.

_Oh._ So much for the idea he didn't want to.

"I don't know what you think you look like, angel - well, I guess I do know now, right? - but you're the most beautiful thing in the world to me. Always."

He shifted again, and she did, too. She sighed as he slipped into her, slowly, gently. He laughed softly, face pressed into her hair. "I'm not. But you still want to."

Beautiful? No he wasn't that. He was too much a man for the word, to her way of thinking. But he could make her feel like this, even when she was feeling so dire about herself. That was pretty beautiful.

His hand slid over her belly as he moved more urgently in her. "This is the only person I'd ever share you with. But you're still mine."

He proved it, the best way she knew of.


	8. Chapter 8

Julia had spent so much time dreading going into labor when Luke wasn't home that when it happened, it was almost anticlimactic.

Two days of sporadic labor pains weren't fun. Neither was trying to hide them from everyone, but she couldn't imagine it would create much more than utter panic around the place. They probably all knew when she gave up and retreated to the bedroom, and then finally surrendered to asking for food to be brought to her later that day, but they didn't have to see her cringe and grab at where it hurt, so it was still better.

She was waiting for the watch she was clutching to tell her two things. When the first came around - fifteen minutes apart, 30 seconds long - she called Tyler in and handed him her phone.

"Call Luke. Tell him he'd better come home if he can."

The roar was loud enough that Tyler pulled the phone away from his ear. _They should love it when he asks for paternity leave._

It took him nine hours to make his way back from most of the way across the country. She was down to twelve minutes and starting to worry that Tyler - who could drive, but didn't have a license - was going to be ferrying her to the hospital, when Luke burst into the room.

"Now? Do we go now?" Luke looked a lot more frazzled than usual.

She shook her head, almost limp with relief. "At the rate I'm going, another six hours. Did you have fun at airport security?"

"All three." He jumped about a foot when the next pains hit her. They were lasting longer, too.

At eleven minutes, she was ready to jump the gun and get going. "Did you ever ask him?"

It took Luke a minute; conversation hadn't been going especially well. "No. It'll have to be a surprise. I don't think he'll mind."

When the time finally came, she put her foot down at being carried down the stairs. "I'll waddle. I've gotten good at that with all the practice. Call the doctor."

Labor pains turned out to be even less fun in a car, but she gritted her teeth and rode them out. She was pretty sure if she screamed, she was going to be having the baby up a tree on the side of the road. An hour into the trip, Luke finally pulled over and let Tyler drive.

Julia was braced for debate and endless bullshit, but the doctor was already there when they arrived, and she suspected he'd done some firm lecturing; Luke got some strange looks, but no one even started in on whether he should be there. She'd watched with some welcome amusement when they'd tried to make a surgical mask work in any way with his beard, then finally given up.

When things got really serious, she started wondering how good an idea it was for him to stay, or how bright it had been to turn down the epidural, either. He was glaring at whoever was closest every time she made a sound.

When the next one passed and she knew she had about seven minutes, she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Stop scaring the nurses, okay?" She saw some smiles around the room. "Cute cap, by the way." It was accomplishing about as much as the mask had. "We'll have to get you some matching shoes."

"They took care of that." He lifted one foot high enough so she could see. The little elastic booties didn't fit, either. They were mostly bunched up around his toes.

"If that's a fashion statement, it's not suitable for mixed company."

That was the last time she said much that was coherent, or remembered much until she heard, "That's it. You did it." Then she burst into tears. So did the baby, right behind her. Neither of them stopped until they were done with weighing - "Nine pounds, six ounces." - and checking - "Healthy lungs. And a healthy head of hair, too." - and put their daughter in her arms.

_Healthy, all right, and black as a raven's wing._ She stirred the incredible amount of hair on their daughter's head with one finger. "Hi, baby. Welcome to the world." She almost sat up and started grappling with the nurse who took her, until she smiled and put her in Luke's arms.

"She should see you, too. They don't see, really, but they know. Whatever anybody says, I've seen enough births. They _do_."

He looked beyond nervous holding her, and she more or less disappeared in his arms, but he was beaming. It looked for all the world like they were studying each other, the baby's expression somehow far more serious.

"Hey there, little girl. How's it going?"

He was even more reluctant to let go. The nurse firmly explained that mother and baby were going to a room, and he could have all the time he wanted there, but for now there were...people in the waiting room very anxious to hear from him. "Have you decided on a name yet?" Someone was hovering with a certificate on a clipboard. They both nodded.

* * *

What Luke wanted was to be in that room the nurse had promised. But the waiting room _was_ a sight not to be missed: Bray, Erick, Tyler...and Randy Orton. Somehow he looked like the one out of place.

"They're fine. They're going to have to stay an extra day because of how far the trip home is, but they said everything's fine. A daughter. I've got a daughter." He sat down, hard. Suddenly his legs didn't feel so sturdy.

People said things, his back was slapped about a hundred times, and Erick tried to shake his arm off. Most of it went by in a haze. He didn't register much of anything until they finally brought him to the room.

Julia was half-awake, and the baby not much more, but the first meal was getting taken care of anyway. He stood in the doorway and watched not wanting to unsettle any of it. _I was wrong. This is the most beautiful thing in the world._

"Might as well get used to the view, big guy. The titty bar's open for business."

He sat next to the bed, a hand on each of them, and watched dinner turn into sleep for both of them.

* * *

Julia could feel herself getting stronger over the next couple of days, but sleep still arrived like a club to the back of the head most of the time. She woke to the sight of Luke in the chair by the bed most of the time.

This time it was Erick sitting there watching her solemnly.

"Did he finally go get something to eat?"

He nodded.

"Good." She reached into the bassinet next to the bed and turned back to him, arms full, smiling. "You came. Thank you. I know it wasn't easy. Would you like to hold her?"

His eyes went wide.

"She won't bite. No teeth."

He sat perfectly still and perfectly straight. She thought he might be holding his breath. It was kind of adorable. "Her name's Erica. Did Luke tell you?"

She didn't think his eyes could get any wider, but they did.

"Apparently he didn't. It's okay, isn't it?"

He nodded and looked down at the little bundle in his arms. She looked back at him with the oddly solemn expression that she seemed to take in everyone with. She hadn't been afraid of anyone yet, though she'd blatted angrily at Bray until he took off his hat - then promptly went to sleep once she had what she wanted.

_She's going to scream like a banshee at the first clean-shaven man she sees._ Julia bit her lip to keep from laughing. _Our girl's got an interesting life ahead of her._


	9. Chapter 9

Even after a week back home, things seemed to Julia to happen in bursts broken up by sleep. Not much sleep, or in long stretches, but sleep.

"Orton left this for you." Luke handed her a bag. Pink. With ribbons.

"He was here?"

"At the hospital. He said it was probably better if he didn't stay too long."

She opened the bag. There was a note on top.

_If I know you even a little, you'll be up running that place in a week. This should help. Congratulations._

It took her a while to work out the straps and pockets.

"What is it?"

"A baby sling. So she can ride along when I finally get my butt out of bed. She can eat on the run, too, which ought to make her happy."

"Make _me_ happy: No snake chasing."

"Oh, not until she's 3 at least."

_Sleep._

Julia woke to Luke stretched out beside her. She'd meant to wait up for him, but he'd had a long day, and she'd conked out. And now, so had he. And so had their daughter.

Erica was asleep on Luke's chest, more or less face-planted in his beard. Julia reached over and turned her head gently to the side. _Oxygen is a good thing, kiddo. Have some._

She shifted, got a tiny fistful of beard, and went right back to sleep.

_Favorite fuzzy blanket. Check._

She reached for her phone and managed to get a picture.

_Sleep._

The sling turned out to be an absolutely perfect gift; she made a mental note to send a message back with Luke. Besides the dozens of benefits of hands-free baby-carrying, she quickly found that tugging the cloth up all the way allowed for some pretty discreet feeding; any last ideas she had about bottles ended right there, though she did have some lingering regrets that she wouldn't be sending Luke out to buy a breast pump. It also allowed for the perfect position for hellos; there were lots of those.

"They want a photo," Bray said later that week, sounding amused. "For the website, since the company chose to announce the reason for Luke's absence. If you'd rather not, I'll be more than happy to tell them no."

Julia smiled. "No, I think I've got just the thing. Let's melt some brains."


End file.
